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CAN YOU HOLD ON TO HOPE?

There are a lot of stories out there about people who have sought to be hopeful in their most desolate of times. Some of them will say that they could not see hope in anything around them. While there are others who saw hope and did not answer her call in time. But the there is a segment of the population who not only recognize HOPE when she comes calling, they also hold onto her.

You do not have to be a cowboy with a lasso to hold onto HOPE, you do have to maintain some presence of mind when things are looking bleak. The area of our lives that seems to have the biggest impact is our finances. I know first hand what the loss of income can do to your health, mental attitude, and your spirit.

There was a time when the loss of a significant portion of my income was being withheld. I am of course talking about child support.. It is the only part of my life that I cannot control. The first couple of times the money stopped coming in, I went into debt trying to keep up with everything. I ran out of options doing that. Because there is only so much debt anyone can handle or get. I sat down with a calculator and did some hard looking at my situation. It was not even close to being pretty.

I had the two kids, the dog and the house. My calculations told me that my best option was to try and hang on to where I was. My heart and my head were telling me that there was little to no HOPE at all that I would be able to pull this off.The notifications started coming in from the Bank that held the mortgage. I was one, two, then six months behind before I knew it. I was avoiding the phone call, from the bank until the day THE LETTER ARRIVED. It was my HOPE in an envelope. Reading through everything I initially thought it was a joke. How could I keep my home by writing a HARDSHIP LETTER! I mean that was preposterous. Wasn’t it? There was the 800 number sitting there right in front of my face. All I had to do was call and find out for myself.

When I finally dialed the number with my shaking hands, there was a friendly voice on the other end of the phone. He explained everything I needed to do. It took me a while to get all the paperwork together. But I did it. I mailed out my packet and began chewing my fingernails. While I was waiting for the decision to be made my ex decided to call and advise me that I was better off selling the house. Since he was not going to be able to provide any support for quite a while I should just accept that I had failed. He told me there was no HOPE.

In my head the self doubt began to form. I mean “How could I even think I might stand a chance at making this work?” Two weeks then three went by and I had heard not a peep from the bank regarding my chances at keeping the home my kids grew up in. My self doubt was in full force on a daily basis. I was beginning to think I was just at the end. One phone call away from being in foreclosure and eviction. Oh yeah when I self doubt I go at it big time!! Six weeks later A big thick envelope came in from the bank with my name on it.

HOPE brought me the success I was looking for. In that envelope was an offer to modify my mortgage to an amount I could actually afford. I had to work a little harder to keep things going, but it all worked out for the best. Now when things go a little out of balance I just remind myself that HOPE is always in my corner. all I have to do is hold onto her!